First of its kind Women Farmers’ Fair held in Pratapgarh

First of its kind Women Farmers’ Fair held in Pratapgarh

An endeavour to educate, train & support women farmers

Pratapgarh, February  26, 2013:  A Women Farmers’ Fair, the first its kind, was organised by Vamashakti , a union of 3,000 women famers, under  the aegis of Agribusiness Systems  International (ASI) and BAIF  Development Research Foundation, at Raniganj village in Pratapgarh district on Thursday, February 28, 2013.

Around 3,500 women farmers from Agra, Shahjahanpur, Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Barabanki, Gorakhpur, Rae Bareli, Allahabad, participated in the fair which was held as an attempt to provide a learning platform to rural women , thereby, recognising and celebrating their identity as farmers which otherwise is considered to be a male forte.

“The need for such a fair, which was held as a part of ASI’s Sunhara India Project, emerged from the fact that despite being involved in farm-related activities since ages, the contribution of rural women has always been overlooked. In fact, the entire institutional system does not recognize them as farmers and their efforts in this direction are considered only an extension of daily household responsibilities with no economic value,” said Shipra Deo, Program Manager-Gender & Livlihoods Sunhara India Project.

With the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sunhara India Project is working with 25,000 farmers across UP and 6,000 of them are women from the districts of Shahjahanpur, Sultanpur and Pratapgarh.

The fair was organised with the intention to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of small farmers, especially, the women through market-oriented farming and improved service delivery system.  It focussed on training, education, motivation and support to the women farmers for adopting new farming techniques so that their ability to improve agricultural production could be established. Besides, the participants were also exposed to government programmes and other services available for their benefit.

Scientific technologies of agriculture, such as raising a nursery in controlled conditions, soil solarisation, staking, vermicomposting, etc. were demonstrated by rural women through different stalls in the fair.

Apart for interactive sessions with agriculturists, screening of short films and other recreational activities were organised on the occasion. Around 35 stall were set up in the fair by Vamashakti, NGOs, and companies, to address various issues related to farming. Stalls to spread awareness about women rights and entitlements among the participants were also there. Moreover, some books, like behan dale ki takneek (Technique for raising a nursery), leya mati ka namuna (soil sampling), kenchua wali khaad (preparation vermicompost) and Khaad ki pehchaan (fertilizer testing), were released in the fair. These books, in local language and bold font with a lot of photographs, were meant for neoliterate rural women or less literate men.

A book by Deepti Priya Malhotra on Jaggi Devi (a social worker who united women farmers in Pratapgarh district and mobilised their participation during the time of freedom struggle) was also released in the fair. A group of men farmers also came from Faizabad to see the spirit of women farmers.